A Brief Summary of the Medical Privacy Rule

This report provides a brief overview of the modified medical privacy rule, “Standards for the Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information”(“privacy rule”) published on August 14, 2002 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The privacy regulation creates a new federal floor of privacy protections while leaving in place more protective state rules or practices. The ruleestablishes a set of basic consumer protections and a series of regulatory permissions for uses and disclosures of protected health information.

This report provides a brief overview of the modified medical privacy rule, “Standards for the Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information”(“privacy rule”) published on August 14, 2002 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The privacy regulation creates a new federal floor of privacy protections while leaving in place more protective state rules or practices. The ruleestablishes a set of basic consumer protections and a series of regulatory permissions for uses and disclosures of protected health information.